


our dreams don't sleep (neither does this city)

by Tripping_Upon_the_Stars



Category: No Straight Roads (Video Game)
Genre: Bad Puns, Bickering, College, Established Relationship, Fluff, I Wrote This Instead of Sleeping, Late Night Conversations, Mentions of Hello Kitty, Movie Night, Multi, Not Beta Read, Slice of Life, can also b read as platonic if that ain’t ur cup of tea
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-01
Updated: 2020-12-01
Packaged: 2021-03-10 03:02:39
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,333
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27726556
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Tripping_Upon_the_Stars/pseuds/Tripping_Upon_the_Stars
Summary: Simply because they're technically Akusuka's charters, they snag up four different flavored tubs of ice cream, because they'd all rather get tossed into the void than suffer through whatever monstrosity the other has bought.They all think of each other as heathens, but at least they can all agree on movies to watch.
Relationships: Dodo/Remi/Sofa/Tila (No Straight Roads)
Comments: 2
Kudos: 35





	our dreams don't sleep (neither does this city)

**Author's Note:**

> I didn't really know how old exactly the Sayu Team is... so... I headcanoned them as college students??? 👀 
> 
> Have some wholesome, poly Sayu Team because WHOLESOME but ALSO CAN B READ AS GUD FRIEND MOMENTS

Akusuka cradles millions of souls with hearts that sync perfectly with each other. They thrum, and they bleed, always for the noble reasons, always for the mundane. 

It became such a peculiar yet intriguing topic that stories are built around it. They emerge all of a sudden like bubbles erupting from mini sea volcanoes. Even the residents that sympathize the most can't give an answer, because they know it'd please no one. 

And as different answers were passed down the line like the ocean swirling salty sand, it was found to be near impossible to even guess. 

"Life sucks."

"We know, Remi."

"I mean - I can't believe I forgot to do the grocery shopping last week…"

"It isn't your fault, Remi."

"We're going to starve… and then die."

"Seriously, Remi?" Dodo squints his dead-fish eyes at the smaller male, who sits huddled up in the most blankets on their couch.

"I can feel death impending," Sofa quietly sniffles with Tila patting his back as she mindlessly scrolls through the Netflix menu displayed on their TV. "Remi's right. Life sucks."

Remi groans as he half-heartedly shucks his glasses to the ground, burying himself deeper into the blanket pile.

"Guys, it's too quiet. Tell me how having no groceries suck or else I'll literally implode this instant."

"Shhh shh-" Tila yawns as she selects a random movie that begins playing its intro on-screen- "Sh. No. We're not gonna get mad at you."

"That sentiment would've been better used during Sayu's last stream."

"Remi, if I didn't love you _bass_ much as I do, I would've punched you in the face for stealing my mic and making a bunch of… of Jojo references of all _fin_ gs."

" _Yare yare daze_."

"Please _stop_ ," Tila pleads. Yet when Remi instead flashes a small grin at her, she grabs something from behind her - which turns out to be a pillow. 

Now equipped with her most useful weapon, Tila gently lays it on top of Remi's head.

Dodo and Sofa snort as they watch the voice actress proceed to push down, effectively smothering Remi as she tries laying her head upon the pillow.

" _TILA_."

The artist violently squirms around, accidentally shoving Dodo off the couch and ungracefully flopping onto Sofa - who unexpectedly gets the air positively knocked out of him within a few seconds.

"Ignoring the fact that I think you somehow broke my rib-cage," Sofa wheezes, gently sliding Dodo off of him and onto the carpeted floor. "Did you at least honor the rule of equal exchange and broke your back?"

"Jokes on you because I'd probably still be able to do motion acting," Dodo shrugs as he sits next to the editor. 

"With what _magic?_ "

"Should I be concerned that you want to snap my spine in half?"

"Be glad of the fact that it'd be me who'd break your back in the first place," Sofa points out with a grin. "Because at least I'd take you to the hospital after."

Just as Dodo was about to fire back with some witty remark that he totally wasn't proud of at all and was willing to forget - Remi screeches underneath the jumbled mess of blankets and pillows that writhe and stretch in a maddened frenzy.

"Shhh - Remi stop _swishing_ around - I'm trying to _sleep_ because I'm super duper tired of you."

" _This - this is murder! You're trying to kill me! DODO, SOFA, GET TILA OFF ME DAMMIT I CAN'T-_ "

"Don't be a _turtle_ drama queen, Remi."

" _I'M SUFF - I'M RUNNING OUT OF - DAMMIT TILA I'M LITERALLY GONNA DIE IN FIVE SECONDS._ "

"It's because you're _screaming!_ " Tila hisses as she starts violently shaking the blanket lump in the opposite way. "Save your air! Do my job! Forget a- _trout_ breathing!"

" _SOFA I DON'T KNOW WHAT YOU'RE DOING RIGHT NOW BUT-_ "

"STOP SCREAMING-!"

" _GET TILA OFF ME AND I PROMISE TO - UH… heck - I-I'LL BUY YOU WHATEVER YOU WANT._ "

Glancing over at Dodo, Sofa gauges his reaction with a hint of amusement about the whole situation.

The motion actor just gives one small nod before turning back to the momentarily forgotten movie. Which just so happened to be _'My Neighbor Totoro'._

"... Reasonable," Sofa gets up with a sigh, leisurely stretching just to hear the faintest pop of his joints. 

"Wow," is all Dodo manages to say as he stifles his laughter. "Doesn't really take much for Remi to give out favors when he's dying."

"Don't you _sea?_ " Tila pouts as Sofa manages to wrangle her off of Remi.

When no more pressure was felt, Remi chucks the blankets away with deep gasps, feeling each lungful of air rejuvenate him back into proper conscience.

"I hated that so much," Remi mutters, dipping down to the edge of the couch to look for his glasses. "Why haven't I left the Sayu Team yet?"

"You love us," Dodo casually supplies as he snatches up the artist's fallen glasses and hands it to him.

Tila gently takes the glasses from Dodo's hand and instead slides them back on Remi's face for him, "Because you also like bullying us back, hypocrite."

"Because life sucks," Sofa says.

It could've just been that the blatant honesty got them, or maybe how underwhelming of a punchline it was, but the Sayu Team acknowledges how right it felt to laugh so genuinely at such a lame joke.

●♡○♡●♡○♡●

The ending credits scroll by the screen, giving way to a bunch of sighs from four, very exhausted yet _stubborn_ college students that refuse to sleep.

Dodo yawns, making Tila shift a little bit to blearily blink her eyes open to check up on him.

"... Seriously?" he mumbles as he emptily stares up at the dark ceiling. 

"'Seriously' what?" Remi raises a brow, scrolling through the menu once again for a new movie to watch.

"... Nothing, I guess."

"Mood," Sofa yawns as he fiddles with his glasses, watching different titles and movie covers glide pass his glassy eyes. "That's too accurate - wait wait wait, Remi stop."

"H-huh..?" the artist jolts, quickly removing his thumb from the remote's button and only realizing right then that he had been holding it down for a minute.

"Before anything, play Anohana."

"I appreciate you trying to force tears out of all of us, Sofa."

"Just select it already - oh okay wait you already did… sorry. Okay so I have a plan and it involves taking advantage of the deal Remi just made with me."

"I mean..." Tila glances over with a small smile, rolling her eyes. "You do know that Remi would still _craw_ your waifu if you just ask, right?" 

" _Tila-_ "

"He has a point," Dodo says so nonchalantly like he didn't just steal Sofa's thunder. "Let the man speak," he jokes as he swirls his wine glass filled with water.

Sofa scoffs, flicking Tila's forehead - finding a bit of amusement from the grumble of protest by the voice actress.

He just yawns, stretching before forcing the drowsiness out of his system. The TV - despite draining everyone's eyeballs of moisture altogether - displays the gentle linestrokes and soft colors that breathe life into the characters on-screen. 

And then, peace.

"... Should we wake him up?" Remi whispers to Dodo, both of them snorting when they turn to notice the editor looking close to knocked out.

The Sayu Team have made a pact when they became official charters - or at least when Sayu did - that for as long they _want_ to be awake, they'll _be_ awake. The reasons vary, but it was definitely mostly because everything just seemed a lot more otherworldly _stressful_ when even one of them is asleep. 

It's concerning with the amount of times Tila had come close to strangling someone - or the times Remi threw big hissy fits about stuff like the laundry for the 4th time - Sofa spiteing everyone by making Sayu memes instead of working - and even when Dodo had left knife holes in the walls whenever he felt like cooking - it all just came back full circle to the simple reasonings.

Putting it like that though, it just seems like they all have bad communication skills and even _worse_ memory.

They also tend to be petty for a bit before finally coming up with their most (not really but _kinda_ ) efficient system, involving something they're all familiar with.

Sleep deprivation.

Tila, the one who proposed the idea in the first place, just blankly stares at Sofa. He doesn't stir, which she decides is good enough for her plan.

She shuffles over the back of the couch, searching amongst their backpacks for a bit. She eventually finds her own - pastel pink with maybe one or five 1010 pins tagged on - and pulls out her heaviest textbook yet.

"... Tila. T-Tila what are you _doing-_ "

"Aren't you wondering why Sofa's asleep?" Tila asks, voice barely above a mumble. It's stupid. Maybe it wasn't good to _blow fish_ out of proportion, but the Sayu Team lifestyle demands drama to spice up their mundane lifestyle.

She stomps over, standing in front of the _clearly_ sleeping editor. 

"Thought so. Well, I'm about to solve this _clam_ ystery. Right. Now."

Since this is rated teens and up, the writer can't describe even the smallest detail about the gorey bludgeoning Tila had sent down on Sofa as punishment for breaking their oath. All that _can_ be said though is that Dodo choked on his popcorn with Remi still gawking in shock.

"CURSED _NSR_ \- JUST STAB ME IF YOU'RE TRYING TO KILL ME, DAMN!" Sofa screams as he throws himself off the couch

"What did I - why would - Did I forget to get your mic fixed _again?_ " his pitchy voice asks. "Didn't it just get fixed yesterday? We need to get you a new mic that doesn't break once a week."

"Tila's valid," Dodo shrugs as he pauses the anime to get up from the floor, joints popping, "We don't tolerate _kliff_ hangers in this house."

"... Cliff… hangers… wait - ohhh, yeah. The plan."

"You zoned out for like, five minutes," Remi huffs a sleepy laugh as he gently swipes away a small smudge from his glasses.

Sofa elbows Remi's side, effectively getting him to roll his eyes and get up from the couch too.

"So the plan involves going outside - which, I know. Disgusting. We'd rather die. Shoes suck."

They all collectively nod, their own consciousness on different countdowns until they pass out. 

"But since a gremlin ate all the chips and everything else edible, let's get food."

"... The grocery stores in Akusuka are… you know, _closed_ at this time though," Remi raises a brow.

"Wh - _duh?_ " Sofa scoffs as he rolls off the couch. "Who cares about actual groceries? I meant let's go to one of the billions of convenience stores and vending machines waiting for us outside, buying everything we can - and by we, I mean Remi."

"Oh thank NSR we aren't going to another _fish_ trict just for chips and coke," Tila mumbles under her breath as she sorts her messy teal hair into a half-baked braid.

The small living room livens up a little more as the Sayu Team trudge around, looking for their scarves and beanies while muttering conversations under their breath. It'd almost be hard to believe they created an energetic, fun, cheerful mermaid idol in the first place. 

But if one decided to nitpick details from them after the concerts, it'd start making sense again.

●♡○♡●♡○♡●

Roaming around Akusuka can be somewhat compared to gambling, only in the aspect that it's weirdly addicting to do.

Even a regular resident of the cutesy pink district won't be able to help themselves as they travel deeper into the bright yet pastel maze. A labyrinth of peace signs, so-bad-that-they're-actually-good puns, and the kindest possible people on Earth.

The Sayu Team always joke around that Akusuka's like the aftermath of Sanrio conquering Las Vegas, turning it into an even more successful brand that just so happened to also be marketed towards adults with an affinity for Hello Kitty poker chips and My Melody-themed bars.

They pass a few people by on their search for sustenance. Of course, they aren't noticed. There's no paparazzi, none of the children that normally screamed in the comments asking for Sayu's autograph scramble over to them like rabid dogs. 

But as Tila snorts water out of her nose from a joke Sofa had said, they all know deep down that maybe it's for the best.

"Eww," Remi sticks his tongue out as he tosses a handkerchief over to Tila, cringing away from her and instead latching onto Dodo with such fervent disgust.

"Love you too, Remi," is Tila's nasally reply, groaning with a few coughs thrown into the mix.

"Drink some water," Dodo supplies without even looking up from his phone. "It'd help the cough."

Tila only squints her eyes in disappointment at the mocap actor, water that she was previously trying to hack out of her lungs now just trailing down her chin.

Sofa glances down and notices the distaste on the voice actress's face, stifling his laugh as he shakily manages out-

"Don't take this the wrong way but don't dogs with rabies drool a lot?"

"... Do you actually still expect me to buy you some limited edition merch for Christmas, even though you literally just called me a feral dog today?"

"I meant in a cute way-!"

"Unbe- _reef_ -able-! How's rabies even _nemo_ tely cute?"

Sofa tuts, "You just don't understand."

Remi vibrates with silent laughter and instead channels that energy into slapping it out of Dodo, wheezing into his arm. " _This is gold_."

"Fool's gold," Tila rolls her eyes as she wipes the water from her chin, tossing the empty bottle into a recycling bin. "That's not up for de _bait_. A wasted oppor- _tuna_ -ty"

Dodo clears his throat, gathering everyone's attention.

"Speaking of gold…" he cracks his neck, stopping to stare at the convenience store - _somehow_ in both boredom and utter awe. Like it was the savior of sinful humanity while spilling coke on his socks. Bringing salvation with all its _'OPEN 24/7'_ glory. 

Mercy to the lone cashier worker at the counter because the four sleep-deprived college students are all at the precipice of unrestrained tears, and spontaneous bouts of fainting. 

"... Heaven. Right in front of us."

Sofa sniffles, adjusting his glasses.

"Let's put our best foot forward."

Remi - the only person in the Sayu Team that's about to feel a sudden hole in his pocket by the end of their spree - rolls his eyes, walking through the doors that automatically slide in to welcome him

And his wallet.

"You guys are _way_ too dramatic."

●♡●♡●♡●♡●

Weirdly enough, despite the convenience store having windows to the outside world, it just starts feeling _timeless_ in the way anyone inside is conscious of.

Every item being piled into baskets just adds another hour to Remi's eternity. Every minute is a new surprise slapping him across the face, like the fact he never knew Tila - who has a _nut_ allergy - likes chocolate-covered hazelnuts.

It just contributes to his struggles of trying to stand upright against the counter. 

Meanwhile, Sofa slides a couple more bottles of iced coffee into his basket. He was just about to move onto the next section of drinks before spotting none of what he's looking for. Sort of.

He squints, grumbling before readying a breath.

A giant bottle of sweet tea - that's surely 18 gallons or something to justify how big and girthy the bottle itself is - is heaved up, Sofa casually walking over to Tila.

"The usual brand you get sweet tea from ran out and this is the only one left. What do you think?"

The voice actress turns around, humming as she observes the bottle.

"... Yeah seems _fin_."

"Seriously, Tila?" Remi deadpans as he walks over, only to gesture to one of the baskets hanging off of Tila's arm. His exasperation is quickly justified though, seeing as one glance reveals all.

And by all, it's _'all of the CapriBlank branded bottles of sweet tea stocked in the convenience store shoved into one basket'_ kind of all.

Tila quirks a brow before glancing down, a look of understanding passes over her face before she turns back to Sofa.

"Never mind, don't need that big bottle… of sweet tea… for my parched, strained throat after rapping Sayu's lyrics."

"Would've thought you were gonna ask me to get two more," Sofa snorts as he walks away to put the bottle back.

"Have mercy on Remi's wallet," Dodo calmly calls from a few aisles down, loading candy into a basket like he was stocking up for the apocalypse. He likes gum, leave him be. 

"We could literally clear this whole convenience store right now if we wanted to though," Sofa points out as he steadily loads the bottle back onto its shelf. "I mean… isn't that one of the perks of working with NSR? Being super rich?"

Remi gawks in utter offense.

"Student loans? Rent? The water bill? Paying for damages from Bunk Bed's music revolution? This is excluding the _fountain_ of debt the electricity bill is-"

"I'm saying we could _technically_ clear this whole store out even after paying for all that stuff!"

"There's literally no reason for us to clear this whole store out-"

"Exactly," Sofa says as-a-matter-of-factly with a grin. "But I didn't say we _should_. It was all merely a suggestion! A jest!"

" _Cod_ ," Tila huffs a small laugh, wiping the sleepiness from her eyes with her sleeve. "That sounds like a _reef_ -erence and it's _krilling_ me on every layer that I can't figure out of _what_."

"Don't bust your head open trying," Remi snorts as he picks up a box of gummies that were weirdly misplaced among rolls of toilet paper.

"It won't do good on my peace of mind though. I'd kinda want to try my luck with cracking my skull _fin_ stead."

Being the snarky blueberry that he is, Dodo jokingly says, "If you smash your head against any wall, you'd get some pretty effective results immediately," and follows that with softly smacking Tila with a Pocky box.

If any of them thought hard enough, it'd be the same as a storm drain and some frogs. 

Because frogs wiggle and shine like slime - assuming they do have slime - it should be easy for them to squeeze into storm drains. 

They could beat Pennywise up and steal his turf if they wanted. After all, frogs are a miracle of nature. They ribbit, they eat flies, they're _small_ \- perfect. 

Remi is thinking that hard.

Be proud of Remi.

With all the given information, Remi can easily sum up that bashing one's head against the wall is the storm drain, and Tila is the frog.

The frog can always choose not to jump into the storm drain. But it chooses to. What can Remi do? The frog was on the edge of fainting anyways, because voicing Tumblr posts is just as tiring and straining.

There is nothing Remi can do. The circle of life justifies that something as natural as frogs are just… easily morphed by artificial storm drains.

Now, all of that is unnecessary. It's just absurd. A horrendous block of meaningless text for a word count.

Because all of that… just for Remi to process the fact that Tila had finally fainted from the several all-nighters they pulled.

He's sleep-deprived too, clearly.

"Um… what do I do?" Dodo asks, glancing over at Remi.

The artist groans. 

"I dunno… wake her up."

"How?"

Remi deadpans in the most silent way possible. But the tension was about to be alleviated, just as Sofa awkwardly calls out to the cashier.

"Hey, um, Tila kinda fainted here so… please help?"

And just like that, the tension winding in Remi's head is now everywhere else.

●♡●♡●♡●♡●

"Oh _clam_ , I fainted?"

"Yeah. It's.. fine though. I mean it's not like we would've contributed much anyways, we're literally built like sticks. Our arms would snap off trying to lift all the plastic bags."

"... And… not because I'm a _gill?_ "

"Why… why would it be because you're a girl? Tila. Tila, it's because the most both of us move is when we brush our teeth or move our little fingers trying to work."

"We move more than that…"

"Compared to Dodo? Not enough."

The cracks in Akusuka's streets tend to fade with each step over them. If only a tiny bit. 

They firmly believe in the healing and enlightening benefits of journeys, and how every step taken is an experience. 

Tripping is a step. 

Skipping is a step. 

Running is a step. 

It's an eternal checklist of life itself. To fail is to live, if only at the harshest parts, and that's still crossing something off the list.

Of course, not everyone in Akusuka would believe such a thing. In fact it's safe to say the majority doesn't. 

Most don't notice, but whenever groups run together past all the shops and vendors and from the evening, they tend to trip a lot less than when they're on their own.

The starstruck, the lovesick, the lonely, and the idealist swear to the glassy streets beneath their feet. 

Sayu's voice continues to gently lull the residents to sleep from the speakers. Quietly yet cheerily - not to mention _eternally_ \- advertising Shellfish nonstop to the point the chips themselves would start haunting the people in their dreams. 

At least then it'd make sense how the percentage of buyers constantly rise day by day.

"When's the deadline for the next Sayu short again?"

"Wh - huh..? O-oh, Sayu short. I think… aw damn what day is it today?"

"Uh… Monday, I guess. But that's sorta considering it's… y'know, past midnight."

"... - Oh my God we're supposed to upload it tomorrow."

" _WAIT_ \- Remi we _just_ finished the latest Sayu short-"

" _-Earlier than the deadline_."

"I _KNOW_."

Any passerbys left on Akusuka's streets turn their heads to the team with questioning looks. But as soon as they noticed the hundreds of snacks being carried and the concerningly sluggish way they're walking, they shrug it off. They understand. If not just very nonchalant about it.

"OUR HARD WORK HAS _FIN_ ALLY PAID OFF! MY VOICE CAN REST FOR A FEW DAYS AT LAST!"

"Guess who's hiring a chiropractor later, hoes..! Me! I'm going to, boutta get all my bones snapped like breadsticks, immediately ending my suffering."

"We should author a BOOK on productivity - like, think about it. College students should be interviewed, we're _literally_ the MOST PRODUCTIVE HUMANS IN THE UNIVERSE."

"Imagine it! The tips would be all like - step one: become nocturnal-! Step two: eating does nothing but _consume time_."

"God - that wordplay would give Sayu herself a run for her money."

"Haha yeah - ! Wait. _I'm_ Sayu… I'm Sayu. _COD_ DAMMIT YES. DO YOU HEAR ME WORLD? THE FOUR OF US ARE SAYU - WHY DON'T YOU BELIEVE US?! DAM - DAM - Dammiiiit…-"

"TILA FAINTED AGAIN."

"... 'Kay _I'll _carry her this time. Stop giving me that look, Sofa."__

__

__●♡●♡●♡●♡●_ _

__

__Amidst the new quiet found back in their living room, Remi wonders. He knows what question he wants to ask, but a small voice in his head keeps reminding him that - _'timing is everything'_._ _

__

__It comes sooner than he was expecting - Tila glancing over at him for a split second. And he finds that good enough of an opportunity as any._ _

__

__"Wait so why _did_ you get hazelnuts even though you have a nut allergy?" _ _

__

__Tila's first confused expression melts away into that of brief realization, intertwining with her small smile._ _

__

__"Oh - yeah! Yeah, I, uh… got that for you, actually. I got stuff for everyone though so don't _flounder_ on that for too long. They're somewhere in the bags though so, have fun."_ _

__

__"No pun for that one?" Dodo jokes as he pulls out multiple bottles of his favorite drink. He reaches his hand deeper and soon retrieves a couple of bags labelled 'Honey Butter Chips'._ _

__

__"I'm tired, okay? … I also don't have a lot of oppor- _tuna_ -ties, right now."_ _

__

__"Nice comeback," Sofa grins as he takes a bag, ripping it open and immediately flooding the room with the scent of honey._ _

__

__" _Tanks_ for appreciating my efforts."_ _

__

__As the other three continue their circle talk, Remi casually sorts through the rest of bags, at last finding his beloved box of chocolates. With a smile, he lifts the cover and wastes no time in picking up a chocolate-covered hazelnut and popping it into his mouth._ _

__

__One glance back over at the others has Remi smiling a tad bit more. Jokingly, he taps Tila's shoulder, holding a piece of chocolate out to her when she turns._ _

__

__The voice actress turns around, raising a brow with a voice that doesn't match her trying not to smile, "Are you trying to _krill_ me?"_ _

__

__"You could try treating it like a jawbreaker and just let the chocolate melt in your mouth. Just spit the hazelnut into the compost bin after."_ _

__

__"And if I spit it into your mouth?"_ _

__

__"That'd be gross," both Dodo and Sofa interject, smiling brilliantly. Too proudly._ _

__

__Remi scoffs, popping the chocolate into his mouth instead. "Thanks for the warning then."_ _

__

__And then they laugh like that for a little bit, full of the mirth given in youth. Sayu hasn't sung a song about it yet, but maybe she will one day. Just to hope her honeyed soprano voice isn't so soprano with her childish lilt._ _

__

__Maybe Akusuka's rumors aren't just rumors._ _

__

__Heartbeats aren't just within one's body - they travel like a single thrum through the ocean. An earthquake rattles a whole ocean, after all._ _

__

__Friends are support, walking with their arms linked to keep each other from falling. When they _do_ fall though, they fall together. They'll laugh about it after, joking about how uncanny it was._ _

__

__Days continue cycling like the currents, with feelings rising up or falling down below sea levels._ _

__

__"... Wait, guys, I think I forgot to pay for this stuff."_ _

__

__"Yeah…? That's cool. You didn't actually have to, Remi."_ _

__

__"... Seriously, Sofa?"_ _

__

__Good enough._ _

__

___**5:04 AM** _ _ _


End file.
